The article is devoted to the analysis of the economic situation in a particular region of Kazakhstan — Atyrau region. Based on the processing and analysis of secondary data of a mass sociological research, the authors in the article make a number of scientifically-based conclusions and predictions about the development prospects of individual sectors of the regional economy, in particular, entrepreneurship. The authors believe that the regional economy has a number of specific features, and at the same time, is subject to the logic of the development of the overall economic situation in the country and the world. In particular, in recent years, a growing influence on the development of the world economy is beginning to acquire the factor of labor and capital movement, migration and immigration attitudes, especially among the economically active population. Based on the research done, the authors of the article argue that insufficient use of the potential of the economically active population of the region — entrepreneurs, provides an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages, «strengths» and «weaknesses», possible and existing risks and threats to the development of entrepreneurship in the region and in Kazakhstan, in general, formulate recommendations for overcoming them. The article concluded that in the Atyrau region there are processes of growth in entrepreneurial activity of the population, movement of labor and capital, the level of migration and immigration sentiments is low and due to the desire of certain categories of economically active population to improve the quality of life.
The development and dissemination of entrepreneurial values and behaviors among the economically active population, especially young people, is one of the most important areas of modernization of Kazakhstan's society.
Formation of entrepreneurship as a way of life solves the tasks of increasing the intellectual potential of a nation and enhancing the competitiveness of our country, which were designated by the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev initiated the national project «Intellectual nation — 2020: bringing up Kazakhstan in a new formation, turning Kazakhstan into a country with competitive human capital» [1].
The category of «lifestyle» still remains in the sociological science a little studied phenomenon. An attempt of scientific generalization of this term and its application for the analysis of modern daily life of young people was undertaken in the works of several domestic authors, including the study of the impact of the Internet on the lifestyle of young people [2], as well as the impact of the social project of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, World Bank «Zhas project» to change the role of the values of entrepreneurship in the structure of youth identity in Kazakhstan [3].
Entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan has a short history of its development and is still in the process of institutionalization, gaining its role and place.
Significant obstacles to the development of entrepreneurship are a number of unresolved ideological and legal issues, including such as negative stereotypical attitudes towards the goals and values of entrepreneurial activity among certain groups of the population whose origin is connected with the «nomadic cul- ture» [4], the problem of delineating social responsibility zones between entrepreneurs, the state and society.
In the first decades after independence, small and medium-sized businesses developed largely spontaneously. The formation of the entrepreneurial class was due to the enterprise and personal initiative of the most economically active and quickly adapted part of the population. The entrepreneurial class was formed in many ways «forcedly», due to the loss of work by the main agents of economic life. Today, entrepreneurs of the «new wave» are young people who consciously aspire to this economic environment, understand the goals and values of entrepreneurship see it as advantages and social benefits.
Increasingly aware of their social responsibility to society. Directly or indirectly, by developing production, by increasing employment, small and medium-sized businesses contribute to the process of maintaining social stability.
However, in general, the class of entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan, in terms of structure and lifestyle, is still non-uniform.
The role of the state and its attitude towards entrepreneurship has also changed over the years. For a long period o.f time, the state exercised mainly control and supervisory functions in the development and support of entrepreneurship.
At present, we are witnessing serious changes in state policy in the field of entrepreneurship. The state is gradually rejecting rigid fiscal control and supervision schemes. Shifts the focus to a gradual decline in the share of state participation in the economy. It strives to create all the conditions for the most favorable economic climate for the development of entrepreneurs and their service areas [5].
Moreover, in Kazakhstan there is a further process of denationalization of the economy, in the next 10 years it is planned that the share of small and medium-sized businesses in the country's GDP will reach 40 %.
In Kazakhstan, new state and sectoral business support programs are constantly emerging, from not only the state, but also the largest international ones, for example, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the United Nations Development Program. Support tools such as concessional lending, assistance in finding investments, developing business plans, a subsidy system, advisory and training support are used.
A number of objective and subjective factors influences the development of entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan. In Kazakhstan, mediation institutions for a constructive dialogue between the government and business have not been developed yet. For the time being, the entrance barrier for business is high enough. There is no real incentive to work with large business structures. Outdated technologies are ubiquitous. There are restrictions on available capital and investments. Often there is no transparency; there is a lack of professionalism of all participants in the economic process.
There are persistent negative stereotypes about entrepreneurship among the population, for example, that entrepreneurs are selfish, often parasitic on the problems of society, and have no moral restrictions.
The population does not endeavor to engage in entrepreneurial activity en masse, since there is a fear of initiative and risk among people.
Since 2015, in Kazakhstan the state has concentrated its efforts in order to promote entrepreneurship development and build a positive attitude towards entrepreneurs, as well as facilitate the involvement of young people in entrepreneurial activities.
So, «Damu» Fund and «Atameken» National Chamber of Entrepreneurs became the operators of the business support and development program.
The results of the implementation of a number of activities and projects of the «Business Road Map — 2020» showed that the business climate in the country has improved significantly, but there is still a lot of work ahead, especially in the regions.
One of the supporting tools for monitoring the results of the implementation of business development support programs is a case study.
So in order to study the structure of entrepreneurs and their migration orientations in 2018, the regional representative office of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of the Atyrau region «Atameken» conducted a comprehensive study — «Screening of the Atyrau region for accelerated economic development of the re- gion» [6].
The purpose of the study was the need to find and identify the potential of the region to further expand entrepreneurial initiative and mass development of private entrepreneurship in the region, identify potential niches for entrepreneurship, diagnose the needs of existing business entities, the prevalence of migration attitudes among the most economically active part of the population, vectors and directions of the proposed migration.
Atyrau region is one of the most important economic regions of the country.
Atyrau region is located in the west of the republic, formed in 1938 (until 1992 it was called Guryev region).
Administrative center: Atyrau city. It borders with the West Kazakhstan region, Mangystau region, Aktobe region and Astrakhan region of the Russian Federation.
The territory of the region is equal to 118.6 thousand sq. km. The center of the region is located in the city of Atyrau (until 1992 — the city of Guryev), which is located on the Ural River and was founded in 1640.
The population of the region as of December 1, 2009 was 512.5 thousand people, including urban population — 251.3 thousand people (49 %), rural population — 261.2 thousand people (51 %). The population of the region increased in comparison with the number at the beginning of 2009 by 10.9 thousand people (by2.1 %).
The distance from Atyrau to Astana is 1810 km. The average population density in the region (per 1 square km. of the territory) is 4.3 persons.
In the region there are 7 districts, 2 cities, 2 villages and 174 rural settlements.
The national composition of the region in 2009 was: Kazakhs — 91 %, Russians — 6.5 %, Ukrainians — 0.3 %, Germans — 0.1 %, Belarusians — 0.1 %, Koreans — 0.5 %, Tatars — 0.5 %, others — 1.0 %.
The hydrocarbon reserves of the Atyrau region make up 73 % of the national reserves, which determines the long-term specialization of the region. The region is attractive for investments in oil and gas production and related activities. The current specialization of the region is oil and gas production, the production of coke and refined petroleum products, as well as professional, scientific and technical activities.
The economy of the region has oil and gas service orientation.
There are a large number of enterprises with state participation in the region, which, often, rather impedes the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the region.
The current research was conducted to diagnose and search for ways to change the situation by stimulating the development of small and medium-sized businesses.
The study used the method of interviewing the population living in the Atyrau region. Respondents in the study were divided into two large groups of interest in terms of differences in models of economic behavior.
These are, first of all, ordinary residents of the region — representatives of households in the region who were surveyed using a household bypass method of ten percent of the total number of households in order to obtain complete and reliable information about the needs of the population, their age and gender structure, number of family members, income, type of employment, and profession existing skills, the main problems in the accessibility and quality of health care, education, transport, communications, availability of loans and free funds, identifying the need for social and productive infrastructure, migration attitudes.
The second group of the population to be surveyed was entrepreneurs, owners of existing enterprises. The survey of entrepreneurs was conducted in order to obtain a complete and reliable picture of the financial business of the company, its age, number of employees, credit load, sales chains, where, where and at what price products are sold, what government support measures are needed, what niches entrepreneurs are willing to invest and develop, the availability of the migration potential of the business environment.
Any sociological research aims to describe, to obtain the missing information on the studied issue, to develop recommendations for changing the problem situation.
In the course of the study, valuable, reliable information was collected that is of interest to all business entities.
The study surveyed 10 % of households — a total of 1,451 households with about 6,400 people and 2,996 entrepreneurs across 8 localities (Atyrau and Kulsary cities, and 6 other regional centers).
As shown by the results of household polls in 51 % of cases (that is, some of them), the heads of households are women. In general, one can note the economic sustainability of households, market involvement and the diversification of activities.
More than half of respondents noted the absence of problems with work, every third respondent, however, replied that finding a job in the region of residence is quite problematic.
Three-quarters of respondents live satisfactorily and have everything they need to live. One fifth of the population says that they are forced to «just make ends meet». At the same time, almost half of the population noted deterioration in their living conditions compared to the last year.
According to the results of the study, one can compare the level of migration attitudes among businessmen — residents of Atyrau region, in general, and Atyrau city, in particular.
The vast majority of residents of the Atyrau region do not want to move anywhere. Of the 14 % who want to move, 32 % want to go to the regional center — the city of Atyrau (Table 1–6).
Table 1
Question «Would you like to change your place of residence?»
|
Yes (below where you would move) |
14 % |
|
No |
86% |
Table 2
Question «Exactly where you would like to move»
|
Move to the regional center |
32 % |
|
Change the place of residence within its district |
29 % |
|
Other (specify) |
16 % |
|
To Astana |
14 % |
|
Move to another region of the country, specify in which |
7 % |
|
To Russia |
1 % |
The reasons for departure are: environmental conditions, low income and inability to get a job. Regarding the prospects for the development of small and medium-sized businesses and the possibilities for its growth, 66% of the respondents are not ready to start their own business, which indicates a lack of awareness among people of such opportunities.
Table 3
Question «What are the reasons for the move?»
|
Environmental conditions |
17% |
|
Low income |
16% |
|
Impossibility to get a job |
15% |
|
Absence of own housing |
13% |
|
Lack of opportunities for the development of children |
12% |
|
The presence of a large number of problems in the city that are not solved |
8% |
|
Other (specify) |
7% |
|
Impossibility to be realized, lack of perspective |
7% |
|
Isolation, remoteness of the city |
3% |
|
Failure to open or expand business |
3% |
|
The desire to return to their historic homeland |
1% |
The overwhelming majority of the residents of the regional center - Atyrau does not want to move anywhere. Of the 34% who want to move - 26% want to move within their area to Atyrau.
Table 4
Question «Would you like to change your place of residence?»
|
Yes (below where you would move) |
34% |
|
No |
66% |
Table 5
Question «Where exactly would you like to move?»
|
Change the place of residence within its district |
26% |
|
Other (specify) |
19% |
|
To Astana |
19% |
|
Move to another region of the country, specify in which |
8% |
|
To Russia |
1% |
The reason for the departure is environmental problems, lack of own housing, low income.
Table 6
Question «What are the reasons for the move?»
|
Ecological conditions |
19% |
|
Lack of own housing |
16% |
|
Low income |
16% |
|
Impossibility to get a job |
13% |
|
Lack of opportunities for the development of children |
10% |
|
The presence of a large number of problems in the city that are not solved |
8% |
|
Other (specify) |
5% |
|
Impossibility to be realized, lack of perspective |
5% |
|
Isolation, remoteness of the city |
3% |
|
Failure to open or expand business |
3% |
|
The desire to return to their historic homeland |
1% |
Thus, the result of the study showed that the migration potential of the Atyrau region is up to 14% of the population, the migration vector is mainly intra-regional in nature and is due to the desire of residents to raise their standard of living and find better paying jobs.
References
- Nazarbayev, N.Λ. (2010. April 7 th.). Intellektualnaia natsiia-2020 — vospitanie kazakhstantsev novoi formatsii i prevrashchenie Kazakhstana v stranu s konkurentosposobnym chelovecheskim kapitalom [Intellectual Nation-2020 — education of Kazakhstan people of a new formation and transformation of Kazakhstan into a country with competitive human capital]. Kazakhstanskaia pravda, April 7th [in Russian].
- Injigolyan, A.A. (2006). Sotsiolohiia Interneta [Sociology of the Internet]. Karaganda: Sanat [in Russian].
- Injigolyan, A.A., & Tanirbersenov, S.S. (2018). Experience of the project of youth Zhasproject initiatives in the context of searching new models of socialization of the Kazakhstan youth. Education & Science Without Borders, Vol. 9, Issue 17, 95-97.
- Injigolyan, A.A. (2010). Osobennosti formirovaniia sistemy sotsialnykh znanii na primere povestvovaniia o kochevnichestve v postsovetskom Kazakhstane [Features of the formation of a system of social knowledge on the example of a narrative about nomadism in post — Soviet Kazakhstan]. Vestnik SPbSU — Vestnik SPbSU. Series 12, Issue 4, 230–235 [in Russian].
- Injigolyan, A.A., & Ahmetzhanov, A.M. (2013). Institutionalization of management consulting bu analyzing consulting companies' sites in Kazakhstan. Education and Science without Borders, Vol. 4, Issue 8, 25-28.
- Svobodnyye nishi dlia biznesa. Rezultaty skrininha v Atyrau [Free niches for business. Screening results in Atyrau]. atameken.kz. Retrieved from: http://atameken.kz/ru/news/31493-svobodnye-nishi-dlya-biznesa-v-atyrau-prezentovali-rezul-taty- skrininga. Date of the application 15.05.2019 [in Russian].